SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/27/2015
9:33 AM
My Worship Time Focus: The Power Unleashed
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Revelation
9:3-6
Message of the
verses: “3 Then locusts came from
the smoke and descended on the earth, and they were given power to sting like
scorpions. 4 They were told not to harm the grass or plants or trees, but only the people who did not
have the seal of God on their foreheads. 5 They were told not to kill them but
to torture them for five months with pain like the pain of a scorpion sting. 6
In those days people will seek death but will not find it. They will long to
die, but death will flee from them!”
I remember studying this passage a very long time ago as
I listened to some tapes by Hal Lindsey, and as I mentioned he thought that all
of the judgments found in the book of Revelation could be done by man. He said that a man who had been in Vietnam
said that he knew what this judgment was all about. He said that helicopters were described here
and that the sting was some kind of nerve gas that did it damage to the people
and that the wings of a helicopter made the same kind of noise that we see in
this section. Well to be honest I don’t
think that this passage is speaking of helicopters but actually speaks of
demons who come up out of the smoke that comes from the pit and take the form
of locusts as they begin to swarm near the earth looking for prey to sting,
prey in the form of unbelievers.
We first of all want to look at the destructive power of
locusts as found in the Old Testament. I
believe that locusts are first mentioned in the book of Exodus as part of the
ten plagues that God brought upon Egypt.
For whatever reason when I think of OT descriptions of locusts doing
damage I think of the book of Joel where he writes “Joel 1:4 What the gnawing locust has left, the
swarming locust has eaten; And what the swarming locust has left, the creeping
locust has eaten; And what the creeping locust has left, the stripping locust
has eaten. Joel 2:25 "Then I will
make up to you for the years That the swarming locust has eaten, The creeping
locust, the stripping locust and the gnawing locust, My great army which I sent
among you.” Other OT passages on locusts
are found in Deut. 28:38; 2 Chron. 713; Psalm 105:34; Nah. 3:15). Remember that the 28th chapter of
Deuteronomy is a conditional covenant that God gave to the children of Israel
so if they would do the things in the covenant God would bless them, but if
they did not curses would come from God and this is exactly what happened to
them. “"You shall bring out much seed to the field but you will gather in
little, for the locust will consume it (Deut. 28:38).”
John MacArthur quotes John Phillips on the destruction of
locusts: “The worst locust plague in
modern times struck, the Middle East in 1952-52 when in Iran, Iraq, Jordan, and
Saudi Arabia every green and growing thing was devoured across hundreds of
thousands of square miles. Locusts eat
grain, leaf, and stalk, right down to the bare ground. When a swarm arises and flies on its way, the
green field is left a desert; barrenness and desolation stretches as far as eye
can see.”
The locusts in this passage are not your ordinary kind of
locusts, but these are demons and they too will cause great destruction as we
will see. Perhaps they look like locusts
but these locusts have a sting like a scorpion.
When we were living in Hawaii centipedes were said to have a sting that
was worse than a scorpion and since we are spending the month in Key Largo Florida
I woke up to a long centipede hurrying across the floor. I actually dropped a large book on it from
about three feet but to my amazement it just crawled out and made its way out
of the house. I spoke to a lady who
works at the condo development about it and she said that their sting is worse
than a scorpion as her husband got stung by one. Well these locusts that John speaks of have a
sting like no other thing ever as they do not kill a person but make them wish
they were dead, but they cannot die. It
is interesting that that the life of a locusts if five months from April to September.
A real locust as we have learned eats the grass and other
green thing on the earth, but these were given limitations as they were told
not to hurt the grass of the earth, nor any green thing, nor any tree. As we see the reference of grass we know that
there must have been some time that has passed since the first trumpet judgment
for in that judgment the grass was scorched, but has had time to recover. We see that their business was not to harm
vegetation but men, and only men who did not have the seal of God on them. While reading the “Left Behind” series the
authors dealt with this sealing of believers by having each believer have a
cross on their forehead that could only be seen by other believers. I don’t know if that will be the case, but we
do know that believers are sealed with the Holy Spirit of God, and we have
already discussed about the 144,000 Jewish Evangelists who were sealed by God
on their foreheads and verse four states “but only the people who did not have the seal of God on
their foreheads.” Let us look at
Revelation 22:4 “they will see His face, and His name will be on their
foreheads.” Believers are purchased by
God out of the slave market of sin and therefore we belong to God Nevertheless,
the firm foundation of God stands, having this seal, "The Lord knows those
who are His," and, "Everyone who names the name of the Lord is to
abstain from wickedness’ (2 Tim. 2:19).”
We earlier looked at a passage in the book of Ezekiel which illustrates
the truth that God protects His people in the midst of judgment: “case. 4
The LORD said to him, "Go through the midst of the city, even
through the midst of Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and groan over all
the abominations which are being committed in its midst." 5 But to
the others He said in my hearing, "Go through the city after him and
strike; do not let your eye have pity and do not spare. 6 "Utterly slay old men, young men,
maidens, little children, and women, but do not touch any man on whom is the
mark; and you shall start from My sanctuary." So they started with the elders
who were before the temple (Ezekiel 9:4-6).”
As mentioned the demons were restricted as to what they
can do to the people that they sting for they cannot kill them, and we know
that Satan according to Hebrews 2:14 has the power of death “Therefore, since
the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the
same, that through death
He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil,” As we have said that even thought they cannot
kill those they sting they are tormented for five months and wish that they
could die. People have been through much
in these judgments that we have studied and yet these people will go through
even more. We don’t know how many people
will be affected, but those who are will be tormented for five months. I have read this passage many times over and
to think that a person cannot die after they have been stung by these demons is
mindboggling to me. I have to remember
that it is God who is in control of when a person dies as seen in this passage.
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: The passage in
the book of Ezekiel nine caused me to think when I studied that section and now
this is the second time that we have looked at it while studying the book of
Revelation: “and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who
sigh and groan over all the abominations which are being committed in its midst. I have to ask myself do I sigh and groan over
the evil things that are going on in our country?
My Steps of Faith for Today: I want to love the Lord with all of my heart,
soul, mind, and strength, and to live in the love of the Lord. To hate what the Lord hates and love what the
Lord loves.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “Peter” (Acts 10:14).
Today’s Bible
question: “Where did Moses send ten men
to spy?”
Answer in our next SD.
4/27/2015 10:31 AM
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